Soft Power Previews — Page 4

Kad said: "I was longing for David Henry Hwang, the character, to be more of a through-line in that portion for us to hook into, rather than a featured character. It's sort of like having a Wizard of Oz in which Dorothy is not the main character of the Oz portion."

Definitely agree with this -- I did find it strange that while everyone else seemed to be an elevated version of themselves in the dream life, DHH (the character) offered little new insight. I understand DHH (the author) wants him to be neutral to ground the story a bit for the audience, but he didn't seem grounding, he just seemed... repetitive. Thematically, Xue Xing and Hillary do almost all the heavy lifting and DHH (the character) is just kind of there to justify their story. Without any grounding throughout the fantasy, the ending feels a bit like forced emotion.

But hey, I'm a sucker for this kind of messy shlock, so it didn't bother me so much. She ain't perfect, but she's got a soft power -- shiny and funny to attract you, and lets you take a few things home to think about.

Updated On: 11/8/19 at 10:44 AM

Saw this last night. It was the most brilliant show I've seen in years, and it would break my heart if its run ended at the Public.

ICYMI, there's going to be a cast recording. I'll be interested to hear this.

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/SOFT-POWER-Will-Release-a-Cast-Recording-in-Spring-2020-20191122